Community-Based Disaster Risk Management and Reduction

Avoiding the pitfalls of traditional and contemporary development practices, community-based disaster risk reduction is a framework that places as much importance on local and indigenous knowledges as scientific. This approach returns vital agency and autonomy to communities regarding their development and ultimately because of this, leads to a more lasting and sustainable implementation.

“Community-based approaches existed even before the existence of the state and its formal governance structure. People and communities used to help and take care of each other’s disaster needs. However, due to the evolution of state governance, new terminology of community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) has been coined to help communities in an organized way”

Yodmani (2001) defined community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) as an approach that reduces vulnerabilities and strengthens people’s capacity to cope with hazards, which seeks to: (1) reduce vulnerabilities and increase capacities of vulnerable groups and communities to cope with, prevent, or minimise loss and damage to life, property, and the environment, (2) minimise human suffering, and (3) hasten recovery. Where CBDRR focuses on preventative measures, CBDRM, in contrast, focuses on broader aspects of disaster issues, from prevention and mitigation to relief, response, and recovery.

Humanitarian response has been largely a reactive force, the increasing focus on CBDRR is due to the importance and emphasis to be proactive to disaster risk rather than reactive. We have seen in disaster-prone areas like Malawi, that the reactive recovery approach has not worked effectively enough and more needs to be done to minimise the risk as prophylaxis.